Ridesharing is often used to reduce travel cost, reduce the capital costs of traveling (e.g., vehicles, insurance, maintenance), and/or reduce environmental impact. Local and state governments also offer incentives for people to carpool or share rides, such as carpool lanes on highways. A fundamental principal of public transportation is to share travel expenses, from fuel to capital costs, by mobilizing large volumes of people at once. However, ridesharing and carpooling in personal and private vehicles often requires substantial planning and leaves little opportunity for personalized routes or flexible scheduling. Individuals therefore occasionally turn to rental vehicle to fulfill mobility needs, but current rental vehicles typically assume the role of private vehicles while in use and therefore do not provide increased mobility to other users.
Thus, there is a need in the rental vehicle field for new and useful apparatus and methods renting and controlling occupancy in a rental vehicle. This invention provides such a new and useful apparatus and methods.